Chickpea balls with coconut curry peanut sauce and cauliflower rice

I have wanted to post this recipe for a while but life has been quite crazy lately. 2018 has been really rough for us so far. We’ve had some pretty big blows but funny enough I feel like so far this year I’ve experienced a lot of joy and through all of this hardship we’ve made some really great friends and got to spend a lot of sweet time with family. It’s not always easy but you can absolutely choose joy through hard times.

ANYWAY- back to the main event. The reason why you’re here- THE CHICKPEA BALLS, well really the coconut curry peanut sauce cause dadannnnng y’all it’s good. Like slurp spoonfuls straight out of the saucepan good. This recipe is one you could feed the naysayers who think you can’t eat a proper meal without meat or if you are a meat needy naysayer (jk I still love you and I eat meat too sometimes) who would like to possibly venture into the world of plant based cooking. This recipe is filling, delicious, and super flavorful.

If you have a food processor with a cheese/veggie shredder piece you are in luck because that will make your life 12302930x easier with this recipe. If not, well best of luck. You can still make it work one way or another!

Cauliflower rice– 1 head of fresh cauliflower or you can purchase pre riced cauliflower

Instructions:

Chickpea balls

1) In a food processor or blender mash up chickpeas. It doesn’t have to be a fine paste, there can be chickpea chunks, you just want to make sure they are ground up enough they will stick in balls.

2) Shred or dice your carrots, onion, and cilantro.

3) Add all ingredients in a bowl and mix together well.

4) Form 2 inch balls and put on a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet.

5) Bake for 20 minutes or until outside is crispy on 350 F in the oven.

Coconut curry peanut sauce

1) Heat a small sauce pan on medium heat and add in garlic and ginger paste. Whisk and let the two mingle for 1-2 minutes then add in the red curry paste and whisk, let them all get well acquainted for 2 more minutes.

2) Add in the can of coconut milk, peanut butter, lime juice, and sweetener and mix well. Let it heat all together on medium low and whisk occasionally. Sauce will thicken slightly then remove from heat.

Cauliflower rice

1) Take your fresh head of cauliflower and cut it up so that it will fit in your food processor to rice it through the veggie shredder. If you do not have this then buy riced cauliflower.

2) Add 1 tbs of water or olive oil to a pan over medium heat and add cauliflower rice. Let it heat thoroughly for 3-5 minutes stirring occasionally.

Assemble your meal by laying down some cauliflower rice in a bowl, add chickpea balls on top, and then pour on the coconut curry peanut sauce. Enjoy!